Saturday

To search the unsearchable

This morning I started down one of my favorite paths. Like a well traveled trail through the woods, I remember things from the moment I enter - the crunch of the leaves, moss-smell trees. Distant critters romping through the underbrush. And the tingle of the adventure ahead.

Psalm 145 begins the ecstatic climax to the book of Psalms. Each of the last 6 Psalms are a praise. The last 5 all begin with, "Hallelujah" - "Praise God!"

I will extol You, my God, O King, And I will bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever.

Every day I will bless, and I will praise your name forever and ever. Today, I can begin to practice what I will do for all eternity - praise God forever and ever. And oh, the many ways we can praise Him!

But then comes this:

3 Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised,And His greatness is unsearchable. 5 ...And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.

And here's the impossible. God's greatness is unsearchable and yet we can seek Him! That's impossible! How can you seek the unsearchable, know the unknowable?

Paul tells us this in Romans 11:33,

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!"

What an adventure! How many times has someone told you, "You can't do that" or "That's impossible"? How are other people so certain what is possible? And we are we so afraid of the impossible? What do we have to lose?

I read the other day that mother Teresa's diary has been brought out and it reveals a life of deeply troubled faith. She is quoted as writing,

"The damned of Hell suffer eternal punishment because they experiment with the loss of God. In my own soul, I feel the terrible pain of this loss. I feel that God does not want me, that God is not God and that he does not really exist."

She did not let her doubts keep her from her duty. She doubted and oh the torment it caused her. And she is not alone! The Psalmist cries out in Psalm 88

Why, O LORD, do you reject me and hide your face from me?

The walk of faith is not a stroll but a journey. And each one of us walks a different path. Some days that path is familiar and we are excited and hopeful. Other days that path is and dark and we tremble with the deep fear of unknowing. There are days for praise and there are days for fear and doubt and sometimes those two things seem to happen all at once.

And yet the Lord tells us, "this is eternal life, that you may know the one true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent." and "you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart". An invitation to know the unknowable - seek the unsearchable.

So take courage today! If you are excited and hopeful - rejoice! If you are scared and tired and full of fear - take heart! Do not fear the unknown - seek Him! And embrace the tension of walking ahead. For even the unknown can become familiar when we hold onto the One who knows what lies ahead.